Martha Salotti 445 Buenos Aires - Argentina FAENAHOTEL+UNIVERSE is located in the El Porteño Building in the heart of Buenos Aires, Puerto Madero Este, a stone's throw from the Costanera Sur, the city's riverside promenade. The El Porteño Building is also home to 80 private residences. The Jorge Newbery Domestic Airport is a 20-minute drive away and Ezeiza International Airport 40 minutes. FAENAHOTEL+UNIVERSE is right by Buenos Aires's financial centre, the Casa Rosada (or Pink House), and San Telmo, the city's oldest neighbourhood famous for its classical architecture, antique shops and tango bars. Each of our 108 rooms is designed to offer our guests a unique experience in modern elegance. Inspired by Alan Faena and designed by Philippe Starck, the rooms are infused with the romance and decadence of la belle époque, while inspiring a sense of modernity and superior comfort. Experience Team Your Experience Manager is a personal guide who is there for our guests from the moment of reservation to departure, combining the roles of receptionist, butler, steward, public relations manager and personal assistant, and organizing all your activities. look, this is a top luxury hotel and you pay top dollar for it. if money is no object, or you are looking to splurge, you cannot find any better than the Faena. It is like something out of a movie, and you are likely to find movie stars sitting about anyway. The rooms (at the lower level) are small, but nicely furnished and with a real wow factor (glass bathrooms with red velvet drapes, etc. All of the staff are models, the food is excellent, and the scene is..well a scene. I won't be able to stay here again soon, and I would not bring my in laws, but for a fab experience, it is impossible to beat. I LOVED this place. The service was excellent, the room was beautiful, the pool was awesome and the spa was fantastic. If i could afford to i would stay here every time i visited Buenos Aires. Faena is a very interesting property with overall good service but not as polished or well informed as the concierge of a Four Seasons for example, tends to be. Sometimes these so called "hip hotels" can be very tiring, overboard, and even annoying.I don´t think Faena should be viewed as such much more as a permanent stage where you are a comfortable actor. The Spa is something special as is the pool.Those with some knowledge of Argentine history may understand how spectacular and at the same time kitsch the decor is at El Mercado. Excellent breakfast. We had a very nice room. I do not recommend Faena for a long stay as you may grow uneasy about the darkness and excessive "cabaret" character but if you are looking for a short stay at a gay luxury place, this is it. The Faena opened to much fanfare among fashionistas in October 2004. It was a darling of international travel magazines that gave it page upon page of features both because of its designer and the handsome, camera-ready owner who gave the hotel its name. Will the glamour and the buzz last, or is it all about pretension? Only time will tell. The Faena was designed almost as a resort within the confines of the city. The hotel is built into El Porteño, an old grain silo, one of the once-dilapidated historic buildings lining Puerto Madero. Although it's a Philippe Starck-designed hotel, the Faena is different from the barren, all-white environments Starck is normally associated with. Instead, public spaces here might best be described as decayed Edwardian elegance meets country chic, with tin metal sheeting and peeling paint, new ornamental plaster ceiling molding made to look old, and antique Queen Anne-style cabinets. Wherever possible, original elements of the grain building are maintained. The rooms are a blend of midcentury classical and modern, based on the white Empire-style furnishings, encased in modern surroundings, with cut-glass mirrors reminiscent of colonial Mexico. White and red are key color elements throughout the oversize rooms, with interesting touches such as heavy velvet curtains controlled electronically. There is a home theater in each room. Bathrooms are enormous, completely mirrored, and have oversize tubs. Guests have a choice of different brands of bath products, according to their preferences, which they can pick when making reservations. Some of the rooms facing the city skyline and the port have incredible vistas; others look out over the nearby Ecological Reserve and the Río de la Plata. If you want to work in your room, you'll have a desk as well as dial-up, high-speed, and Wi-Fi Internet access. The spa is spacious and unique, using the round shapes of the silos to great effect. There are Turkish-style hammam baths and a special stone Incan-style sauna shaped like an igloo. The array of special services is vast, and there are many treatment rooms. You'll also find a huge health-club area with the latest equipment on-premises. Instead of a true concierge, one person, called an "Experience Manager," takes care of you the entire time that you are here. Free private transfers from the airport are provided for each guest. An outdoor pool is at the building's entrance, placed here to make guests feel as if they are in their own home. The hotel also has a residential section, with properties for sale. These vary in size and price, and 20 of them are available for rent on a nonscheduled basis. Several dining, bar, and entertainment areas are in the lobby and elsewhere. The "Universe" in the hotel's name refers to these shared elements, open to guests, residents, and the general public, with a philosophy of mingling and sharing ideas and experiences. Lenny Kravitz and his entourage stayed here, and actor Owen Wilson said it was, "one of the coolest hotels I've ever been to in my life." If a rock god and the Butterscotch Stallion can dig this creation of Argentine fashion impresario Alan Faena and famed French architect Philippe Starck, then chances are you can, too. Rooms are feng shui perfect with rich reds and crisp whites. Velvet curtains and Venetian blinds open electronically to river and city views; marble floors fill expansive baths; velvet couches, leather armchairs, flat-screen TVs, and surround-sound stereos lend still more luxury. The so-called Experience Managers are basically personal assistants, making reservations and tending to every whim. Other highlights are two excellent restaurants and an elaborate spa with a Turkish bath. In El Cabaret, a blood-red music box dotted with red leather couches, you can swig champagne and watch sensual flamenco shows or the even sexier El Rebenque Revue, which starts well after midnight.